At least 60 killed in Sudan gold mine collapse, others feared trapped

At least 60 workers have been killed after a gold mine collapsed in Sudan’s West Kordofan region. The bodies were recovered from the rubble through Wednesday morning after a series of tunnel collapses at the Al-Jara gold mine near the town of El-Nuhud on Tuesday. The number of people still trapped underground has yet to be confirmed.

Two workers who survived the accident told AFP that many miners remain trapped underground and that their chances of survival are believed to be very low.

Khair Al-Sayed Jabara, a worker involved in the rescue effort, said they had spent the night trying to rescue their colleagues. However, the lack of heavy machinery has made it extremely difficult to remove the rocks and earth from the collapsed tunnels. For now, rescue operations are being carried out using basic equipment normally used for gold extraction.

Another worker, Al-Amin Suleiman, said the tunnels at the Al-Jara mine are located very close to one another, meaning a collapse in one tunnel could trigger collapses in adjacent tunnels. He said 60 bodies had so far been recovered and that more workers remained trapped beneath the debris.

Large-scale rescue operations have been difficult because West Kordofan is currently under the control of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF). The ongoing conflict between Sudan’s army and the RSF since April 2023 has had a severe impact on the country’s economy and the lives of ordinary people.

With employment opportunities shrinking amid the war and economic crisis, many Sudanese have turned to risky gold mining for their livelihoods. Gold is extracted on a small scale at abandoned and informal mines such as Al-Jara. A significant portion of Sudan’s gold industry depends on such small-scale and artisanal mining operations.

Sudan is one of Africa’s leading gold-producing countries. According to industry data, more than two million people worked in the country’s small-scale gold mining sector before the war. Government figures show that Sudan produced around 70 tonnes of gold last year, the highest annual output in five years.